


Thin Ice

by Niroz



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Destcember, Destcember2020, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:28:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27854270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niroz/pseuds/Niroz
Summary: A Warlock treads dangerously over a frozen lake of Darkness.
Kudos: 4





	Thin Ice

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2: Destcember2020 drawing & writing challenge based on the #Destiny universe.

Frost danced around the radio transmitter on the Warlock’s sparrow. Zavala’s voice could be heard on the open Vanguard channel protesting the use of Stasis. 

“He’s right you know. The Darkness goes against everything we stand for in the Vanguard. I...I know it’s capable. But it’s dangerous, addictive, and I can see you losing yourself every...”   
The Warlock whipped her head around to throw their Ghost a glare cold enough to send a shiver through its shell.

The Warlock returned her attention to tuning the radio to the local Europa channel and heard a familiar voice. 

“An evacuation Ketch has crashed in Eventide Ruins. Protect Eliksni survivors in the crash. House of Light will arrive soon to assist.”   
Varik’s trademark wheeze could be heard before he continue.  
“Please, do this for Variks.” 

The Guardian looked down at her hands and wrists as she felt them ache from hunger. No, her gauntlets, the Necrotic Grips were hungry. 

“Let’s see if we can find a proper meal for you at the crash site.”  
She hopped on her sparrow and throttled off towards the ruins.

* * *

The Warlock dismounted from her sparrow on a small cliff overlooking the crash site. All things considered, the Ketch was still mostly intact. 

A small group of Fallen, a Captain and two Dregs wearing white and blue armor could be seen rummaging through the ship’s wreckage. 

“House of Salvation. Lunch time.”, the Warlock whispered.

The Warlock’s Ghost suddenly appeared, dancing around her shoulder.  
“Lunch time? What are you now, a Drifter apologist? Stasis is really getting to your head!”

The Ghost looked down at the Warlock’s hands.  
“And I told you THOSE were a horrible idea!”

“Everything not involving the Traveler is a horrible idea to you. Yet, without Stasis we would have never beaten back House of Salvation.”, the Warlock said with acid in her voice.

“You don’t know that! You just snatched up the Darkness’s offering without a moment’s notice and...”

“That’s right! Because you and the light were WEAK!”, the Warlock sliced back.

The Warlock turned her attention back towards the Fallen scavenging the ship and saw that they were gone.

“Great. Now where did they go?”

The Warlock leaped off the cliff and gracefully glided down to the ground 30 meters from the wreckage and where she last saw the band of Fallen.

She held out her hand and called upon the Stasis within her to form a small icy orb in her palm.

She heard a faint scuttle from behind a frozen bolder and lobbed the orb in its direction. The orb erupted into an icy cloud as it landed on the snow covered ground behind the bolder. The Warlock leaped high in the air while unholstering her hand cannon. She saw two Dregs, one frozen and one fleeing from the bolder. She took aim at the trapped Dreg and squeezed her weapons’s trigger.

The ensuing icy shatter of the frozen Dreg released icy tendrils that snaked their way towards the other fleeing Dreg. The Stasis fragments tucked away in the Warlock’s satchel began to sing. She could taste the Dreg’s fear. It was intoxicating.

The tendrils caught up to the Dreg causing them to trip onto the snow. The Dreg unsuccessfully tried to squirm its way free from the enveloping ice but was completely frozen a moment later.   
  
The Warlock glided gently towards the trapped Dreg and starred hungrily at their eyes, moving erratically in a panic. 

She kneeled down and placed her hand on the Dreg’s shoulder and felt the corruption within her gauntlets ooze out into the Dreg. The corruption quickly devoured the Fallen’s body, including its muffled screams. A sickly green cloud was all the remained of the small Fallen’s body.

 _Delicious_.

Suddenly the Fallen Captain appeared in an ether charged cloud, their Shrapnel cannon readied and aimed. The Warlock was ready. She turned instinctively while extending her left hand. In her hand an icy staff quickly slithered into existence and projected a volatile sphere of Stasis towards the Captain.

Fear gripped the Captain, causing him to hesitate which stole his moment of opportunity to fire before he was encased in corruption laced ice.

The corruption fed voraciously on the Captain, but he was strong enough to endure. The Warlock whipped out her hand cannon and pressed it up against the rime covered chest of the Captain. The Stasis fragments continued to sing.

The fragments sang louder as the frozen Captain erupted in frozen chunks as the Warlock fired her hand cannon.

She looked up and saw her Ghost assessing the aftermath in horror. 

“You’re turning into the very thing you swore to fight against.”

“I dismantle our enemies and you continue to cry. I can’t believe I’ve put up with your weakness for so long.”

The Ghost drooped down, clearly hurt.  
The Warlock shocked by her own words tried to apologize.  
“I’m sorry, I didn’t...”  
The Ghost faded away in silence before the Warlock could finish.

 _Let the light sphere go. You don’t need its fragility._.

The Warlock shook her head, conflicted and confused with her thoughts.

The Warlock’s senses became razor sharp again following the sudden faint sound of creaking metal. She visually inspected where the sound was coming from and saw a figure pinned under a large piece of wreckage no more than 10 meters away. She holstered her weapon and began making her way towards the figure.

Following her arrival, she stood over the trapped individual: A Vandal wearing House of Light colors. She kneeled down and studied the struggling Vandal for a moment. The Vandal’s legs and lower arms were trapped underneath what appeared to be a detached ship door from the Ketch. She could hear the Fallen’s breathing heavy and labored. The Vandal turned its head to stare at the Warlock. The Warlock could sense the terror in the Vandal. The hunger returned.

 _Freshly converted over from the losing side I bet. A coward. Just like Variks. Just like the rest of your pathetic race_. 

Were these her own thoughts or...yes! OUR thoughts.

“Pathetic.”, The Warlock hissed.

_Open this one so that we may devour the rich yolk inside._

The Warlock raised her hand high above her head and a jagged staff made of ice writhed into existence. The bottom of it ending in a sharp spike while her gauntlet kissed the staff with corruption. The fragments began to sing their beautiful song again and the anticipated feeling of ecstasy that came with killing with Stasis began to take hold of the Warlock. She couldn’t help the sinister smile from forming underneath her visor.

“STOP!”, The Warlock’s Ghost appeared between her and the Vandal.

“This is an evacuee! They are of House of Light...they are good...”

“They are cowards! And they will return and stab us in the back.” The Warlock interjected.

“What? This is NOT you. You stand for hope! You fought for giving the Eliksni a second chance. For peace! Do you not remember fighting aside Mithrax back on Earth?”

 _A mistake! A traitor! Where is the acclaimed Kell of Light hiding now?! Brooding for humanity’s downfall no doubt_. 

The Guardian swatted her Ghost away from her next meal. The Vandal glanced at the sharp edge of the staff and then closed his eyes, accepting his fate. The Warlock reaffirmed her grip on the pole of jagged rime in her hand. Her gauntlets were hungry. The fragments were hungry. The Stasis inside her was hungry. SHE was hungry. The beautiful song the fragments sung filled her mind, blocking out her Ghost’s pleas to stop. 

She hesitated for a brief moment, but then brings the staff down hard, sharp end first.

* * *

The staff bites deeply into the icy ground barely an inch from the Vandal’s head. The song ceases and the gauntlets grow cold. 

Her Ghost is right. She’s treading on thin ice. She was only moments away from falling through it and being swallowed by the Darkness.

 _This ISN’T me! I CANNOT forget who I am. What I stand for_.

The Guardian pushes the debris off of the trapped Vandal and offers her hand to help him up.

“I’m sorry friend. I seemed to have forgotten my ways there for a moment.”, she says apologetically in Elinski. 

“I am a friend of Kell Mithrax. Please forgive me and allow me to assist you and your house.”   
The Warlock disengages the tint on her helmet revealing a warm smile.

The bewildered Vandal looks up at her for a moment and then takes her hand to stand up.

 _What was it again that he would say_? The Warlock pondered for a moment.

 _Ah yes_. 

“We walk this hardship-path with joyful hearts. Be brave.”


End file.
